Kevin Martin Furious With A Telco?
from the end-times dept
Everything was just going along as usual last week, what with Verizon and BellSouth adding in some sketchy fees to DSL bills that just happened to be about the same amount as the USF recovery fees they'd been allowed to drop. Then, BellSouth dropped its fee, which could be explained by its desire not to cause too much of a stir with its merger with AT&T still waiting to be approved. But things got a little weird when word came that telcos and cable companies had realized that maybe they should treat customers better, and now there's another possible sign of impending apocalypse: FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin is apparently "furious" with a telco (via Broadband Reports). Yes, this is the same Kevin Martin who's never met a big telco he couldn't help out, and now he's said to be pretty upset with Verizon's shifty new fee. It remains to be seen if this anger will actually turn into anything, or if it's just another attempt by the FCC to merely appear concerned. In any case, Verizon execs probably can't wait for December to get here, so they can sing Martin Happy Birthday and return things to normal. Until then, be on the lookout for driverless cars, any undue pestilence or other signals of the end times from the telecom market.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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BS
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Even the gov does it
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OMG APOCOLYPSE
"Kevin Martin Furious With A Telco?"
"Universal Takes Free Music Plunge"
THE END IS NEAR, WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIIIIIIEEEE
(lil nicky)
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Little Fees
I've seen this repeatedly and started calling them on it... Problem is they make it so complicated to get a $.05 (five cent) charge reversed that it's truely not worth your while.
Problem continued, if they do this to all reported 50 million of their "in" customers, what's their monthly take for that nickel per person? $2.5 Million!
If this reminds you of a bad Superman movie, you're not alone.
But, how do you fight this? Is this something that can be proven through a class action, maybe?
Anyway, I'm just fishing to see if I'm the only person who really reads his bills...
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Re: Little Fees
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Re: Little Fees
Also, forgiving a bit of drift here, think about whether you can migrate to measured service instead of flat rate local dialing. In this day of post-dialup network access, there is a good chance you can take back some of those fees by pay-as-you go local calling. You may be surprised by how few local calls you actually make every month in this broadband always-on age. I shaved 40% off my bill by moving to measured local instead of flat rate. It was also a pleasure to hear the rep try to talk me out of it, which was a strong indication that they know I'll save money by changing plans. Savings details here
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Just in time...
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Re: Just in time...
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Urge the FCC to Make Verizon Give Back the USF Tax
A friend of mine just launched a Web site today (with a little help from me), that will allow visitors to send a letter to the FCC urging Verizon to give the USF tax savings back to the consumers.
The site is: http://www.stopthedslfeeripoff.com
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Wait a minute
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